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So, this whole transgender bathroom issue is the big issue in sexuality and society these days. Please forgive me for not giving too much thought to this. Usually when I go to a public toilet, I could care less what the other guy is doing. I am there to do my business, wash my hands, and leave. If a transgender male feels uncomfortable standing at a urinal, I doubt if anyone is going to harass him for sitting in a stall. I don’t even know of any lesbian who would want to stand at a urinal. As far as pervert rapist fronting to be Trans to go in women’s restrooms to attack women and girls, there are children of either sex being raped in public restrooms even without this new transgender bathroom thing.

Actually, there is a far bigger issue of sexuality in America that no one wants to talk about because we are all, in some way or another, guilty of it. Jesus put it down like this: “Whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28). Lust is the exploitation of another person for one’s own gratification with or without the consent of the person being lusted after. It is a mental form of sexual abuse. When the abuse goes from the mental to the physical, we call it sexual assault or rape. If the objectified person does consent to the act, she becomes nothing but a plaything for the abuser as he is seeking his own pleasure only regardless of her experience. Even in marriage, if the husband and wife aren’t approaching each other for the sake of expressing their love and loyalty for each other but solely for their own gratification in spite of the experience of the partner, that is not lovemaking.

We are a nation of mental rapist with a society which encourages us to objectify the opposite sex for our own gratification. This is quite obvious in pornography where young women are persuaded (if not forced) to surrender their bodies to very degrading sex acts. It is said that male performers also feel cheapened by the things they get paid to do and both frequently abuse drugs in an attempt to ease their consciences. In some reports, the porn industry generates more money in this nation than all of the major sports leagues combined.

But, Satan needs not to drag us all into the world of hardcore pornography to turn us into mental rapist. Our society is so saturated with sexual images that we barely blink an eye at them. There was a time when the Sports Illustrated “swimsuit” issue was nothing more than a couple of pages of a young woman somewhere in-between an article about Mean Joe Green and baseball’s spring training. Now it is its own separate issue with the model photographed so suggestively that it magazine has to be covered on the news stand. Nearly every sit-com has sexual jokes and situations. Victoria’s Secrets has well-advertised television specials. And women are encouraged to dress and feel “sexy.” Men are also objectified as bare chested and muscular visions for the female appetite.

While we are outraged by men who rape and women who seduce young boys to have sex with them, we think little or nothing about the way we objectify one another. Yet this mental sexual abuse is a core reason of why so many of us fail to establish and maintain platonic friendships with the opposite sex and keep marriages from falling into divorce. We are not considering that man or woman as a being made in the image of God. We are only thinking about how we want them to please our desires. While we Christians are good at declaring the surface level standard of the male-female marriage, we make way too many excuses too often for our lusting of one another. Not only are we silent against a business like “Hooters,” we accept their money for our churches and will patronize them because, “they have really good hot wings.” It is no wonder then that the homosexuals feel that they can establish and maintain relationships just as good (or poorly) as we do. It is no wonder that impressionable teens and pre-teens are confused about how they want to be known sexually. Fighting against transgender restrooms, worthy as the fight may be is a mere surface solution to a surface problem. Unless we Christians get serious about repenting of our own mental raping of one another, the transgender and other challenges to the heterosexual standard will not disappear. Indeed, more destructive ones will arise.

So, yeah, Pres. Obama and the LGBT have gone too far with this bathroom thing. Yeah, there are conservative Christians who have pulled some silly stunts to protest against it. This issue is a symptom of our society’s sickness of mental rape. And rape is the use of another person’s body for the sake of our own gratification regardless of the will of the other. There is no quick fix for this deeper sickness. We all will have to be repentant and transform our desires from selfish lust to selfless compassion. Instead of hiding behind the cross, let’s try carrying it for the sake of healing what is really wrong with us.

So, I can be an idealist trying to make a better and fair world for everyone by boycotting a said fast food restaurant because it’s president told a religious magazine that he believes marriage should only be between heterosexuals. Or, I can be a defender of the biblical principles and the first amendment by eating at a said fast food restaurant because it’s president told a religious magazine that he believes marriage should only be between heterosexuals. I couldn’t have made up such silliness if I tried.

Firstly, I think the LGB&T community (it’s most radical elements, perhaps I should say) have picked a foolish fight. Nowhere in Chick-Fil-A’s corporate policy nor general operations do they check the sexual preference status of potential customers or employees. If this were the case, than legal argument can be presented. But, the president of a company has every right to express his religious beliefs in a religious magazine. It seems that you are showing the same sort of intolerance you want to defeat. Hypocrisy only defeats your cause.

And to the conservative minded, I can’t help but to wonder where were your “Defend Freedom of Speech” voices when the Dixe Chicks were being boycotted and Rev. Jeremiah Wright was being cursed for his cursing. Somewhere between 60% to 65% of all heterosexual marriages end in divorce. Is this the result of LGB&T bullying, or that we are disobedient to the biblical principles that promote lasting unions between men and women? Somehow, I don’t think eating fast food in the name of freedom will make these statistics any better.

There is a good reason why we should consider taking up the Fast of the Dormition. That for the next 14 days we stop trying to have things our way and submit ourselves to God’s will. That we sacrifice our pleasures and seek his purpose in our lives instead. It will take more than two weeks of veganism to heal the social-political rift in our nation. But, the Dormition is a good time for us to take a breath and think about something more important. Putting aside sensual desire to bear something greater than one’s self. Yielding to the will and Spirit of God even when it moves beyond one’s expectations. Mary did these things.

It is truly right to bless you, O Theotokos, ever-blessed and most pure, and the Mother of our God. More honorable than the cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the seraphim, without corruption you gave birth to God the Word. True Theotokos, we magnify you.

Benediction of the Morning and Evening Prayer, The Orthodox Study Bible

And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man

Genesis 2:22

Like anyone should be surprised that a liberal president would be in favor of a liberal cause. I was more surprised about people being surprised. I am also aware that our heterosexual marriages aren’t much to crow about these days. Scripture and two thousand years of church teaching stands against homosexuality. These things also tell us “straight” people that we need a healthier look at our relationships.

STRAIGHTEN OUT STRAIGHT MARRIAGE

Genesis 2:18-25

Introduction

Mr. Obama’s Biblical reference does not apply to gay marriage

Antithesis

Protestant doctrine has assisted in the ruin of heterosexual marriage

Capitalism has assisted in the ruin of heterosexual marriage

Propositional statement

Rather than be upset with gay marriage, we need to heed the story of creation to revive the best of our traditional marriages

Points

We should concentrate on the work God gave us and let him present us with the person we should have (v. 15, 18)

We should accept the person God has for us for who he or she is (v. 23)

We should be and create a bond where we are safe to be open and honest with each other (v.25)

It is not enough for us to say that heterosexual monogamy is God’s will. We must seek God in our marriages to make them so.

I believe President Obama is wrong in his support for gay marriage. Jesus Christ taught the same standard for marriage as found in Genesis 2:21-24 when he answered the Pharisees about divorce in Matthew 19:1-9. Male and female … For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and the two will become one flesh. For homosexuals to choose a life partner and be granted a legal recognition by a civil authority may be suitable for this world. But, homosexuality is a sin. Thus, Holy matrimony for a gay or lesbian couple is not possible according to the Bible and Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant tradition.

With that said, we heterosexuals have a hell of a lot to answer for. If we fear that gay marriage will make a mockery of the traditional family, I recommend that we take a hard look at the way we corrupt monogamy degrade sex on a regular basis. The Chris Miller/Kim Kardashian “marriage” comes to my mind rather quickly. Oh, it was a heterosexual union. But, how serious was it? Did they marry with a true spiritual bond with each other and committed hearts to withstand good and bad times together? Or was it a sham based on their egos, sensual pleasure, and making a profit from a celebrity gossip hungry media? If our nation can accept this perversion of holy matrimony, then two men or two women with a committed bond with one another getting married is not a far stretch.

In the liturgical church traditions; a sermon on the seriousness, love, and committment is a part of the wedding ceremony. How many of us had a sermon at our wedding? Weddings have become an industry from high fashion magazines, to professional planners and photographers (and photographers get paid far more than the minister who officiates the service and signs the legal documents). These ceremonies used to take place exclusively in the bride’s or groom’s church. At least in the home or on land owned by one of the families. Today, anyone can go to Las Vegas and have Elvis as the minister backed up by a punk rock band, or just go through the drive thru chapel. Or, one can spend thousands on one of those story-book weddings which may seem impressive enough to hide the fact that neither the bride nor groom are committed to life long monogamy. And after the divorce, the bride or groom swears to have a bigger and better wedding than the first one. If we heterosexuals participate in such shallow marketing of what was a blessed and honorable institution, why should homosexuals be denied the privilege?

And isn’t it strange how the language of sex is used as an insult to manhood? Think of the particular word for intercourse is a curse word as is the slang term for the female genitals. With the easy access to hardcore pornography and the general acceptance of softcore nudes and semi nudes in sexually charged situations, what was once to be done naked and unashamed has become an act of ridicule and recreational pleasure. In fact, the sheer brutality women go through in today’s porn and the rate of sexual abuse against girls has brought the value of the female body in this society to an all-time low. Should I be upset when two men want to commit to a union where they are unlikely to contribute further to this abuse? Should I be angry when two women, who most likely suffered sexual abuse at the hands of men, seek solace in a marital bond with each other?

Chances are no one is going to vote for or against the president on this issue alone. Therefore, I see little value of having a too strong of an opinion about gay marriage one way or the other (although I know where I stand). We heterosexuals have done far more damage to holy matrimony than one man’s words. Unless we are serious about cleaning up the mess we made, we look rather foolish trying to put limitations on someone else.